Nyctaginaceae, the Four O'Clock Family, is a family of around 33 genera and 290 species of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few representatives in temperate regions. The family has a unique fruit type, called an "anthocarp", and many genera have extremely large (>100 µm) pollen grains.

The family has been almost universally recognized by plant taxonomists. The APG II system

APG II system

The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...

 (2003; unchanged from the APG system

APG system

The APG system of plant classification is the first, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was superseded in 2003 by a revision, the APG II system, and then in 2009 by a further...

 of 1998), assigns it to the order Caryophyllales

Caryophyllales

Caryophyllales is an order of flowering plants that includes the cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, and many carnivorous plants. Many members are succulent, having fleshy stems or leaves.-Description:...

 in the clade core eudicots.

A phylogenetic study by Levin has justified the combination of Selinocarpus and Ammocodon into the genus Acleisanthes

Acleisanthes

Acleisanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the Bougainvillea family, Nyctaginaceae. There are currently 16 species. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ακλειοτος , meaning "not closed," and ανθος , meaning "flower." Plants of this genus are known commonly as trumpets due to the...

. The genus Izabalea is now considered a synonym of Agonandra

Agonandra

Agonandra is a genus of plants in the family Opiliaceae. It contains about 10 species, including Agonandra loranthoides and Agonandra brasiliensis native to South America....

, a genus in Opiliaceae

Opiliaceae

Opiliaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. It consists of perhaps a dozen genera, totalling several dozen species of tropical woody plants. Several genera contain parasitic species. The biggest genus, in number of species and in stature of the individual plants, is...

. A more recent study by Douglas and Manos clarified the relationships among almost all of the genera in the family and demonstrated that a substantial diversification of herbaceous genera has occurred in arid North America. Many genera of Nyctaginaceae possess unusual characters. Notable examples include sticky bands on the stems between the nodes, cleistogamous flowers (which self-pollinate without opening), or gypsophily, the ability to grow on soils with a high concentration of gypsum

Gypsum

Gypsum is a very soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO4·2H2O. It is found in alabaster, a decorative stone used in Ancient Egypt. It is the second softest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale...

.

Genera

Tribe Boldoeae Boldoa Cav. ex Lag. Cryptocarpus Kunth Salpianthus Humb. & Bonpl. Tribe Bougainvilleeae Belemia Pires Bougainvillea Bougainvillea Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina . Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus... Comm. ex Juss. Phaeoptilum Radlk. Tribe Caribeeae Caribea

Tribe Colignonieae Colignonia Tribe Nyctagineae Abronia Abronia (plant) Abronia, the sand-verbenas or wild lantanas, is a genus of about 20 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the family Nyctaginaceae. Despite the common names, they are not related to Verbena or lantanas in the family Verbenaceae... Juss. Antoine Laurent de Jussieu Antoine Laurent de Jussieu was a French botanist, notable as the first to propose a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today.-Life:... Acleisanthes Acleisanthes Acleisanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the Bougainvillea family, Nyctaginaceae. There are currently 16 species. The generic name is derived from the Greek words ακλειοτος , meaning "not closed," and ανθος , meaning "flower." Plants of this genus are known commonly as trumpets due to the... A.Gray Asa Gray -References:*Asa Gray. Dictionary of American Biography. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928–1936.*Asa Gray. Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. 17 Vols. Gale Research, 1998.*Asa Gray. Plant Sciences. 4 vols. Macmillan Reference USA, 2001.... Allionia Allionia Allionia, commonly known as windmills or trailing four o'clock, is a genus of two species widespread in the western hemisphere... L. Anulocaulis Anulocaulis Anulocaulis is a small genus of flowering plants known generally as ringstems. These five species are sometimes treated as members of genus Boerhavia. Ringstems are thickly-rooted perennial wildflowers with glutinous brown bands at their stem internodes, the trait which gives them their common and... Standl. Paul Carpenter Standley Paul Carpenter Standley was an American botanist.Standley was born in Avalon, Missouri... Boerhavia Boerhavia Boerhavia, the spiderlings, is a genus of about 40 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. The common name refers to the appearance of a spider or spider's web given by the numerous long, slender and interlocking stems of the inflorescences... L. Commicarpus Standl. Cuscatlania Standl.

Cyphomeris Standl. Mirabilis Mirabilis (plant) Mirabilis is a genus of plants in the family Nyctaginaceae known as the four o'clocks. The best known species may be Mirabilis jalapa, the plant most commonly called four o'clock.... L. Nyctaginia Choisy Okenia Schlecht. & Cham. Tripterocalyx Tripterocalyx Tripterocalyx is a small genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock family. It contains four species formerly included in the closely related genus Abronia, the sand-verbenas. These plants are native to North America, especially the dry desert southwest of the United States... (Torr.) Hook. Tribe Leucastereae Andradea Allemão Leucaster Choisy Ramisia Glaz. ex Baill. Reichenbachia Reichenbachia Reichenbachia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Nyctaginaceae, the family that also includes Bougainvillea.... Spreng.

Tribe Pisonieae Cephalotomandra H.Karst. & Triana Grajalesia Miranda Guapira Guapira Guapira is a genus of plant in family Nyctaginaceae. It contains the following species :* Guapira myrtiflora, Little* Guapira rotundifolia, Lundell... Aubl. Neea Neea Neea is a genus of plant in family Nyctaginaceae. It contains the following species :* Neea acuminatissima, Standl.* Neea amplexicaulis, Dwyer & Hayden* Neea darienensis, Dwyer & Hayden... Ruiz & Pav. Neeopsis Lundell Pisonia Pisonia Pisonia is a genus of flowering plants in the four o'clock flower family, Nyctaginaceae. It was named for Dutch physician and naturalist Willem Piso . Certain species in this genus are known as Catchbirdtrees because their sticky seeds reportedly trap small birds... L. Pisoniella (Heimerl) Standl.

Uses

The family contains one food crop, the mauka (Mirabilis extensa), a root vegetable

Root vegetable

Root vegetables are plant roots used as vegetables. Here "root" means any underground part of a plant.Root vegetables are generally storage organs, enlarged to store energy in the form of carbohydrates. They differ in the concentration and the balance between sugars, starches, and other types of...

 of minor local importance in the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

. Garden Four-O'Clocks Mirabilis jalapa

Mirabilis jalapa

Mirabilis jalapa is the most commonly grown ornamental species of Mirabilis, and is available in a range of colours. Mirabilis in Latin means wonderful and Jalapa is a town in Mexico...

species are grown as ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s, as are species of Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina . Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus...

(Bougainvillea glabra, B. spectabilis, and numerous hybrids), Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina . Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus...

and Abronia

Abronia (plant)

Abronia, the sand-verbenas or wild lantanas, is a genus of about 20 species of annual or perennial herbaceous plants in the family Nyctaginaceae. Despite the common names, they are not related to Verbena or lantanas in the family Verbenaceae...

are commonly cultivated in warmer regions.